Burning Brentwood transfer station has history of violations

The Brentwood Fire Department was called to a fire at a recycling facility on Emjay Boulevard in Brentwood. Fire officials said firefighters from Brentwood, East Brentwood, Bay Shore, Deer Park, West Islip, Islip, East Islip, North Babylon and Commack responded to the scene. (Oct. 22, 2013) Photo Credit: Paul Mazza

"It certainly has been a problem for us," said Bill Peterson, first assistant chief of the Brentwood Fire Department.

Eleven days before the most recent fire erupted on Oct. 22, state Department of Environmental Conservation officials visited the site, operated since late 2011 by Island Rail Terminal Inc. The DEC found on Oct. 11 that the facility violated its state permit by holding excessive amounts of waste for too long in its 60-foot-high storage building, state and town officials said.

The state told the company that it wasn't allowed to accept any more solid waste until further notice.

Other violations included leaving the facility unattended. The DEC ordered the company to have an attendant on duty around the clock and to submit a plan for removing existing debris, records show. Island Rail and its attorney, Francis L. Bosco of Patchogue, did not return calls seeking comment.

The cause of the latest fire isn't known. The blaze erupted Oct. 22 and parts of the waste pile were still smoldering Friday morning.

Citing potential health and safety risks, the Islip Town board voted Friday in an emergency meeting to authorize Tully Environmental Inc. to clean up the property if Island Rail doesn't remove all of the debris within 10 days.

Tully Environmental will charge $85 per ton, and there could be as much as 10,000 tons of debris on the property, Birbiglia said. The cost of the cleanup could later be assessed as a tax lien on the property.